I didn’t grow up eating Thai food. In the small town of Jamestown, NY, where I spent my teenage years, we didn’t even have a thai restaurant. We had one chinese buffet in town, and that was about as exotic as it got for me back then – My favorites were beef & broccoli or fried rice. I grew up in a large Italian family and my Nana and Nanu did the majority of the cooking – We’d have massive Sunday night dinners consisting of gravy, carduni, and cannolis. Such amazing food but basically the same thing week after week. You know what though? I never got bored of their delicious cooking…

After graduating high school, I moved from the east coast to the west coast, attending the University of Oregon. It was during that time that my ethnic food experiences increased quite a bit. College towns always seem to have an amazing variety of food. I still ate my fair share of Taco Bell (89-cent bean burritos can’t be beat on a college student budget!). But, I also had my first tastes of sushi, pad thai and falafel. My dad introduced me to sushi with a bang – ordering a wide selection of items to sample, from the basic California roll (which I loved) to uni (sea urchin). When the uni arrived at our table, my dad (the biologist) had to check it out and determine which part of the urchin we were actually eating. After close examination, he exclaimed “You know what?! This is the gonads – We’re eating the sea urchin gonads.” Ummm…. Thanks pop… Still to this day, I never order uni in a sushi restaurant. Never will.

Let’s get back to this dish – Also known as drunken noodles, Pad Kee Mao doesn’t actually have any alcohol in it. No one actually knows the true origin of the name. However, in the thai language, khi mao means drunkard. It’s believed that after a full day of drinking, thai men would come home and enjoy this dish, believing that the noodles would draw some of the alcohol out of their systems and help with hangovers in the morning. Another theory is that you would need to be drunk to enjoy this dish, as it is so spicy, the only way that you can handle the heat is to be numbed a bit from the alcohol.

Wherever the name comes from, I’m just here to tell you that it’s super yummy. The ingredients can be a bit difficult to find. You may need to make a stop at the Asian market to find the wide rice noodles, sweet soy sauce and thai basil. But, if you don’t have an Asian market near you, feel free to do some improvising.

I was able to pick up most of the ingredients, including the thai basil and sweet soy sauce at our local Fred Meyer. The only thing I wasn’t able to find was the wide rice noodles, so instead, I just swapped in some thinner cut rice noodles. You could also use regular pasta in place of the rice noodles – Cook it just short of al dente and add it in the same manner provided in the recipe. And, if you’re not able to find the sweet soy sauce, you can use regular soy sauce with a pinch of brown sugar. The taste will be a tad different, but still super yummy.

One word of warning: This dish is VERY SPICY as the recipe is written. To cut back on the heat a bit, use only the three chiles that are chopped with the garlic. You can skip the additional two which are sprinkled on top of the Pad Kee Mao after cooking. And, here’s a tip for you: Use a potato masher to break up the pork as it browns. It works extremely well.

To pair with this delightfully spicy, tangy, salty Pad Kee Mao, I chose a bottle of dry Rosé that I also picked up at Fred Meyer. They had so many of my favorite bottles to choose from, but for this particular dish, I chose one of my favorite local wines, a Stoller Pinot Noir Rosé. With a mouthwatering acidity and hint of grapefruit, it was the perfect pairing with the lime juice that’s squeezed over the finished noodles and it balanced out the saltiness of the Pad Kee Mao perfectly.

Fun Fact: Did you know that National Rosé Day is the second Saturday in June? This year’s National Rosé Day is June 9, 2018, so get ready by picking up all the ingredients for this Pad Kee Mao (and maybe for this Thai Beef Salad too), plus a few bottles of Rosé to sample alongside. To help you out, here’s a list of some of my favorite Rosé wines under $10 that are widely available at Fred Meyer. National Rosé Day is the perfect excuse the invite over some friends and celebrate. Cheers, friends!

If you loved this Pad Kee Mao I would appreciate it so much if you would give this recipe a star review! Also, be sure to snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on Instagram using the hashtag #platingsandpairings and tagging me @platingsandpairings.

Instructions

Roughly chop the garlic and 3 of the chilies together. Chop the other two chilies, and set aside.

Preheat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat; when hot, add the oil, the garlic/chile mixture and the onion. Cook, stirring constantly, until the garlic releases its fragrance, about 30 seconds. Add the pork and a splash of the sauce. Cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon or potato masher, until the pork is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Drain the noodles and add them with the bell peppers to the pan. Increase the heat to high, and add the sauce. Cook, tossing everything together and separating the noodles, until all ingredients are coated with the sauce and it thickens slightly.

Toss in the basil, lime juice and the additional two chiles. Serve immediately with a side of lime wedges.

Nutrition Facts

Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 787Calories from Fat 315

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 35g54%

Saturated Fat 17g85%

Cholesterol 81mg27%

Sodium 1878mg78%

Potassium 533mg15%

Total Carbohydrates 90g30%

Dietary Fiber 2g8%

Sugars 13g

Protein 23g46%

Vitamin A21.1%

Vitamin C57.4%

Calcium5.4%

Iron11.4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Tips for making Pad Kee Mao at home:

Use a potato masher to break up the pork as it cooks.

If you’re hosting a group, try serving this alongside a thai beef salad to make things stretch a bit.

To keep your basil fresh at home trim the ends and place them in a glass of water. Place a plastic bag over the top and keep it on your counter (not the refrigerator). It should last for nearly a week this way.

i like your recipe and am excited to try it! I like the wine pairings too. It’s great to have a recommendation on a wine I may not have tried. If I won the contest I would buy gadgets and things I haven’t tried. I love to experiment with food.

Pad kee mao is my go-to dish whenever I eat out at a Thai restaurant, but I’ve never made it myself. I can’t wait to give this recipe a try so I can customize it just the way I love it—with extra veggies! Thank you for sharing!

I cannot wait to try this! It looks and sounds so delicious. Funny, we had similar food upbringings. I grew up in suburbia Phoenix and never had Thai until college either. I’m hooked and we eat it weekly now. I love this dish (gimme all the spice!) and can’t wait to try your version. Ps, I’d totally go rosé too!

I tried this for dinner last night. I couldn’t find the wide rice noodles at Fred Meyer so I substituted the thin ones. It was an epic disaster – I ended up with a gluey, slimy mess. Had to throw it out. I think in retrospect it was because the rice noodles I used were very skinny, and also contained some potato starch, thus probably shouldn’t have been soaked for so long. I think the flavors sound great but make sure you use the right noodles and definitely avoid the super skinny rice noodles or ones with potato starch!

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